all kidding aside, i am very pleased with the effort that guy put forth. he could have just let me keep drinkin the corsendonk and chimay red, but he didnt. my wife said when she talked with him, he told her, "i could tell he REALLY wanted to try those beers". well hell yes i did.. by-golly..

John, sorry to hear about the Corsendonk Christmas Ale quest. I was able to pick up their gift pack last week and I've had a couple already. I must say that it's quite good and not as heavy as many other Belgians (ie. Trippels). It might be 8.5ABV but it's such a well balanced brew. The funny thing is that it's the first Belgian that I've had with a very noticable hops presence. I plan to enjoy all 8 bottles. Oh yeah, and this year's Christmas day brews are Gouden Carolus Noël and Cantillon Kriek. I can't wait to enjoy these. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the Chimay Blue and Duvel.

when i went to pick up the Chimay Blue and the Duvel, it was out of the cooler. so i had to run home and put it in the freezer to chill it as fast as possible. went to my buddies about 7, and started drinkin. we did the Chimay Blue first.

first impression upon opening was a strong wine smell, like we had opened a bottle of merlot. it pours a murky dark, with a medium head consisting of small bubbles that desipate fast, but leave a very creamy lace over the top of the beer. first taste confirmed the aroma, very fruity and sweet, very wine like. it had a heavy flavor of yeast, and the 9% alcohol content was very evident. not at all over powering, but you knew you were drinking a strong beer. the sweetness had many layers to it.. it had hints of raisin, caramel, and butter with a touch of bitter at the end. it did have a hint of spicyness, but the variables of the sweet flavors dominated. very bold, good beer. i liked this beer, but not as much as i liked the Chimay Red. i dont care for wine that much, and every time i would bring the glass to my mouth, that strong smell of fruit made my brain think it was wine, and not beer. my buddy agreed. overall, a good complex beer, with PLENTY of alcoholic kick, i give it an 8 out of 10. i prefer the RED, but wouldnt turn this down.

after that bottle was finished, we let out palates reset, and then went to the Duvel. when opened, it had more of a flowery small, and not a fruity smell. it pours a rich golden color, very beautiful with the thickest/creamyist/stiff head i have ever seen. literally, the head is thick, like the meringue on a pie, i kid you not. it clings to the glass and stays forever. i joked that i needed a straw to get to the beer under the head. anyway, flavor was a mild spice, with again, hints of sweetness. not as sweet as the Blue, and not quite as bold. the Duvel was slightly more tame, less complex. i would call it balanced.. good mix of spice and sweet, but not too much of either. the floral tones stayed evident, with hint of bitterness at the end. and the 8.5% alcohol content is very obvious. it tended to stand out, alerting you to its power. texture was not creamy, and not dry.. again, just a nice in the middle balance. overall, good strong beer. great golden color, with impressive head. i give it 8.5 out of 10.

it was a good night of drinking. after those two, we also split a bottle of the Corsendonk Pale Ale. needless to say, we had a decent buzz going. thats one thing i want to comment on. these are STRONG beers, and i mean in alcohol content. when drinking them, i get a warmth that radiates from my chest, into my stomach, and down my arms. i can feel the 'wave of drunk' as it washes over me. a rather weird sensation.

this has been so fun. i appreciate you guys turning me on to these beers. i will stick to my regular beers for your normal fishing and BBQing adventures, but these belgiums have made a space for themselves. i will definitely select these for holiday and special occasions. in fact, i bought 2 extra bottles of the Blue and Duvel to enjoy on christmas eve. although, i might save one for christmas dinner!!

Good stories, bigjohn! I love reading tales of "discovery" on the beer thread.

My wife would probably raise her eyebrows pretty high if the man at the liquor store was calling my house!

I'm betting you would have liked the Duvel and the Blue much better if you had tried them in reverse order. The subtleties of the Duvel were likely lost because you had the more wild beer first.

I'm not a Belgian specialist like these other guys, but my favorite Chimay was the Cinq Cents (dunno what color that one would be). La Trappe Dubbel is another of my favorites (technically not a Belgian, but WTF). And the Carmeliet Tripel (Karmeliet?) that Tom recommended is wild and unique - very cool beer.

And I will again assert that best practice would be to chill these live beers in the frig for a week, create a nice tight yeast pack in the bottle, and pour all at once into a large vessel - leaving as much yeast in the bottle as possible. My beer-making books are all boxed up in the garage, but I am certain that I read (from a credible source) that harsh/bitter oils and proteins are likely to be clinging to those yeast cells.

That is certainly the advice I've heard regarding the yeast the most frequently. I just haven't followed it too rigorously and have never been bothered by the outcome And, that yeast is quite good for you.

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[black]-"The further we go and older we grow, the more we know, the less we show."[/black]

This stupid thread caused me to buy the last 6 bottles of Bornem Tripel that my BevMo had ($1.80 a bottle! ). I was tempted to grab the Corsendonk Xmas Ale, but at $7.49 I resisted.

Also cleared them out of their remaining stock of Casilleria del Diablo Cabernet ($5.70 a bottle! ). If I'm not mistaken, it was someone on this forum who recommended that wine last year. Good call, it's excellent with smoky BBQ'd tri-tip and steaks.

bigjohn, I want to thank you sincerely for sharing your journey and impressions with us. I find your descriptions to be at the same time accurate and illuminating. You obviously have taken great care to parse out the flavors your discern, and I really appreciate you taking the time to convey them to us.

For my own part, I had both draught and bottled Deschutes Jubelale, draught Pyramid Snowcap and bottled Young's Winter Warmer today (yes, it was a very good day, thank you very much). Not surprisingly, the live (draught) versions were delightful. While I appreciate the nuance of the Young's, it was simply not as "alive" as the local versions. I liked the Snowcap quite a bit - a night and day difference from the bottled version.